Kolkata Knight Riders finishes second in the IPL point table

Beating Pune Warriors by 34 runs, Kolkata Knight Riders secured their second spot in the qualifier round. They will face table-topper Delhi Daredevils in the first qualifier match. This match will take place on 23^rd May at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai. It is scheduled to begin at 20:00 local time (14:30 GMT).

Thanks to Shakib Al Hasan’s all-rounder performance, Kolkata Knight Riders could put on a chasing score of 137 against the Pune Warriors. It was not that much easy to score that much runs in a slow and low pitch.

There is no doubt that Bangladeshi all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan played a very important role with both the bat and ball. With the bat he scored a swift 30-ball 42 including three boundaries and two over boundaries. He also picked the wicket of Pune Warriors captain, Sourav Ganguly, and Anustup Majumdar giving 18 runs for 4 overs.

Shakib also made a 67-run partnership with Brendon McCullum in the third-wicket stand.

In reply, Pune Warriors scored 102 runs for 8 in their allotted overs. Both Shakib and Yusuf Pathan took two wickets each while other four wickets were taken by Lakshmipathy Balaji, Iqbal Abdulla, Sunil Narine and Rajat Bhatia.

If Kolkata Knight Riders wants to secure their place in the final round then they will have to beat their opponent team, Delhi Daredevils, which is not an easy task.

If they losses against Daredevils then they will get another chance of entering into the final round as the loser of the first qualifier match will compete with the winner of the eliminator for final berth.